The devices, systems, and methods disclosed herein relate generally to surgical utility connectors, and more particularly, to surgical utility connectors configured to connect a surgical utility supplying device to a surgical implement.
Surgical implements, such as surgical imaging probes, surgical drills, surgical vitrectomy probes, and the like, are connected to a surgical utility supplying device to receive utility, such as laser imaging light, compressed air, fluid, vacuum, or the like. The surgical implements are connected to the surgical utility supplying device via surgical utility connectors.
Some surgical implements, such as pneumatic driven dual acting vitrectomy probes, may require two or more utility inputs to move a diaphragm forward and backward for a cutting operation. The utility inputs to the surgical implement may include pulses of compressed air supplied from two separate utility ports at a utility supplying device. However, it may be inconvenient and troublesome for a user having to make two different connections at two different utility ports when connecting the surgical implement to the surgical utility supplying device and having to remove two different connections at two different utility ports when disconnecting the surgical implement from the surgical utility supplying device.
A known method for preventing misconnections of the two utility inputs includes a male connector and a female connector that differentiate the two utility inputs. For example, the utility supplying device may have a male utility port corresponding to the female connector and a female utility port corresponding to the male connector. O-rings on the respective male connectors or male utility ports create air tight seal between the connectors and the utility ports. However, this kind of arrangement has multiple shortcomings. For example, the O-rings provided on the male utility ports may degrade over time due to exposure to cleaning agents or due to repetitive connection and disconnection. Because the male utility ports are not easily replaceable, the degraded O-rings may cause utility leakage during operations. As another example, when a third utility is required for the surgical implement, it is difficult to further differentiate three utility inputs using merely the male and female connectors.
The present disclosure is directed to devices, systems, and methods that address one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art.